This past season wasn't quite what I hoped it would be, but at least I had some folks to help make things better :)
THANK YOU to Loeka Clothing for keeping me stylish on the bike (and off, with my new hoodie and leggings). At least I can look fast now!
AND Kali Protectives, who make sweet, lightweight helmets that do a darn good job of protecting your noggin when you need it most. I took a few spills this year that tested my lid, and not even a headache.
AND Lindsay at Shine Riders Co, who is working so hard to encourage and promote female gravity racers, and to get the women's freeride movement going. She is doing an excellent job so far!
Random musings and tales of adventure, and maybe a mountaintop snack or two...
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
All done racing, now what??
Well, let's see here... the Tara Llanes Classic was about a month ago now, and the following weekend was Northstar's closing day. That was also probably the best day of riding all season, with a newly rebuilt upper half of the Gypsy trail, and no agenda for practicing anything! I did so many runs I eventually lost count, always a good feeling. And, another awesome thing happened the previous weekend: apparently this guy flew into a fit of rage over Northstar's impending closure and the end of the racing season (or something like that) and dissected his bike right in the parking lot... fortunately a friend was nearby who heard me complain about my brakes dragging incessantly for the past 2 weeks, and snagged the brakes for me! Finally my bike could roll freely and it was amazing!! Thanks Sean, I owe you a few beers next season.
A couple of weeks later I did a fun XC ride with some ladies on the TRT from Mt. Rose Meadows to Tunnel Creek and the Flume Trail, finally ending on the Chimney Beach downhill. That has got to be my favorite Rim Trail section of all time, and everything was in such good shape from the rainfall a couple days before, even Chimney Beach was all-time great traction!
And I finally got my "new" Tahoe rocky trail XC bike, an '07ish Santa Cruz Blur LT off Pinkbike, such a good deal I couldn't restrain myself since I'd been talking about getting one for years. It fully lived up to expectations, shredding the rocks with no problem and inspiring me to catch air anywhere possible, plus being pretty darn light. It'll do for now, until I can afford the latest fancy carbon thingamajig, whenever that happens to be. Keep in mind I've been riding a 10 year-old aluminum hardtail leftover from my XC racing days, so this is a huge step up! And then of course, it snowed. Luckily I can still take it to Moab in a week!
Speaking of being able to afford expensive bike parts, my life for the past few weeks has been consumed by resume writing and mailing them off to prospective sponsors for next season. The easy part is putting together all the results and some pretty pictures, but being convincing as to why I deserve sponsorship over some other dude is for some reason the hard part... I really feel like I'm a lousy salesperson so it's kind of a frustrating time of year. Furthermore, between the internet in my house still not working and having to use Cline's computer, and not having a color printer readily available to make my photos look good, it feels like the universe is conspiring against me getting much done in that department.
On to more fun things: UTAH ROAD TRIP!! Although our departure date has been pushed back to this weekend thanks to Kit's work obligations, we still plan to head out there and stay until early December, bike riding, climbing, and just hanging out in the desert. Plans include plenty of time in Moab to explore bike trails, climb towers, and check out Arches National Park. Just an hour south of Moab, Indian Creek is on the list as well for some crack climbing and maybe a trip into Canyonlands to do a bit more...uh, climbing. Oh yes--finally, I get to jam my hands and feet into some desert splitters!! It's SO exciting! (Now you see why I'm so conflicted? I love bikes, but sometimes I just need to go climb a rock!) We may also venture to Colorado, New Mexico, or Arizona if the weather gets too cold later this month, looking for warmth in the sun.
In the past weeks I've also been trying to whip my climbing muscles back into shape, both physical and mental, for leading on gear. A trip to Donner Summit kicked my butt when I tried the short but stout overhang on Firecracker Roof 5.10b (on toprope), but then cleanly led two 5.9+ cracks after that, before my arms went totally noodly and I was done. Last week I hit up another local spot for climbing cracks, the Crystal Bay Boulder, just 5 minutes away from me in Kings Beach. It's about 40 feet tall and has a .10a flaring chimney and a .10c hand-to-offwidth crack, both very physically exhausting; the chimney especially gives one the feeling of being simultaneously eaten and spit out. The hand crack gets hard about 10 feet from the top, where it requires either a careful transition to a lieback, or arm-bar and cram yourself in through any means possible, as it widens to just over fist-width. Most climbers, myself included, find this type of "off-width" climbing terribly difficult and painful, but for some reason I keep throwing myself at it... though I will probably stick to more friendly climbs in the land of sandstone.
Here are a couple of photos from my last visit to Indian Creek, which was exactly 3 years ago at this time. A small storm blew through the night we arrived, and we went back to Moab for a couple of days to let things warm up. A week later, the weather was beautiful and the rock was warm, but I only got to climb there for a day before we had to return to Tahoe.
 |
| Stopping on the Flume on our Rose to Chimney ride |
And I finally got my "new" Tahoe rocky trail XC bike, an '07ish Santa Cruz Blur LT off Pinkbike, such a good deal I couldn't restrain myself since I'd been talking about getting one for years. It fully lived up to expectations, shredding the rocks with no problem and inspiring me to catch air anywhere possible, plus being pretty darn light. It'll do for now, until I can afford the latest fancy carbon thingamajig, whenever that happens to be. Keep in mind I've been riding a 10 year-old aluminum hardtail leftover from my XC racing days, so this is a huge step up! And then of course, it snowed. Luckily I can still take it to Moab in a week!
Speaking of being able to afford expensive bike parts, my life for the past few weeks has been consumed by resume writing and mailing them off to prospective sponsors for next season. The easy part is putting together all the results and some pretty pictures, but being convincing as to why I deserve sponsorship over some other dude is for some reason the hard part... I really feel like I'm a lousy salesperson so it's kind of a frustrating time of year. Furthermore, between the internet in my house still not working and having to use Cline's computer, and not having a color printer readily available to make my photos look good, it feels like the universe is conspiring against me getting much done in that department.
 |
| Indian Creek |
In the past weeks I've also been trying to whip my climbing muscles back into shape, both physical and mental, for leading on gear. A trip to Donner Summit kicked my butt when I tried the short but stout overhang on Firecracker Roof 5.10b (on toprope), but then cleanly led two 5.9+ cracks after that, before my arms went totally noodly and I was done. Last week I hit up another local spot for climbing cracks, the Crystal Bay Boulder, just 5 minutes away from me in Kings Beach. It's about 40 feet tall and has a .10a flaring chimney and a .10c hand-to-offwidth crack, both very physically exhausting; the chimney especially gives one the feeling of being simultaneously eaten and spit out. The hand crack gets hard about 10 feet from the top, where it requires either a careful transition to a lieback, or arm-bar and cram yourself in through any means possible, as it widens to just over fist-width. Most climbers, myself included, find this type of "off-width" climbing terribly difficult and painful, but for some reason I keep throwing myself at it... though I will probably stick to more friendly climbs in the land of sandstone.
Here are a couple of photos from my last visit to Indian Creek, which was exactly 3 years ago at this time. A small storm blew through the night we arrived, and we went back to Moab for a couple of days to let things warm up. A week later, the weather was beautiful and the rock was warm, but I only got to climb there for a day before we had to return to Tahoe.
 |
| The Creek with a dusting of snow |
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Digging around in internet-land, found this shot from the GRT back in August:
http://www.vitalmtb.com/photos/member/Pro-GRT-Northstar-2012-Day-1,4111/done6-1,40275/GnarHuck,5862
http://www.vitalmtb.com/photos/member/Pro-GRT-Northstar-2012-Day-1,4111/done6-1,40275/GnarHuck,5862
Friday, October 5, 2012
Last Sunday in photos
 |
| The practice run...obviously, since I'm all clean |
 |
| The race run, about to launch the ramp at the finish. Looking a little dusty! |
 |
| Podium time! |
Monday, October 1, 2012
Whoosh! That's the end of mountain bike season flying past at warp speed.
For all intents and purposes, 2012 DH racing is a wrap! The last 3 weekends have gone by so stinking fast I can hardly keep track of up or down (or keep my wheels on the ground for that matter)...Somebody sped up the earth's rotation without letting me know and it's really been messing with my balance lately. Racing on Boondocks--already 2 weeks ago at this point--at least I stayed on my bike, but couldn't keep it on the trail. That bobble cost me probably more than the 2 seconds I lost to first place on that run, but I pedaled madly and stayed off the brakes more than ever in the lower sections to make up a decent amount of time. After screwing up I managed to stay focused, and definitely would have beaten my Pro GRT time if the finish had been in the same place.
The Tahoe Fat Tire Festival at Squaw Valley the following weekend brought even more fun and excitement; I had just replaced my brake rotors that were bent and rubbing with brand new ones, which just happened to rub even worse, like riding with your brakes on. Crap! I'm not exactly a mechanical genius, in fact I'm kind of scared to mess with my bike too much because I seem to always make it worse, so I just decided to ride Kit's bike for the race instead. The course was a whopping 3 miles long with a good amount of pedaling, and the only techy rock section was at the top and not really that bad at all. That made it easy to decide on a 30 lb 7-inch travel bike without perma-brakes over my V-10. I took one practice run before the race and decided it was good enough, never mind the suspension was set up for Kit (and being air I could have easily changed it). But I didn't. Probably would have helped a bit...Midway through the rocks I put my front wheel in the wrong place and went OTB, not a hard crash but a slow topple that cost some time. I hopped back on and got going, and things were smooth until farther down in the woods I snagged a pedal on something and found myself in the dirt again. Got a little mad and pedaled harder, but not quite enough to catch Tasa, who finished about 8 seconds ahead of me. Despite my inability to stay on the bike during the race, it was a good event overall. The festival atmosphere always makes bike racing more fun, and being able to race on a new trail in the spectacular setting of Squaw's mountainous terrain is pretty neat. Hopefully the event makes a return next year, with a real DH course, and maybe a dual slalom or something!
Finally there was the Tara Llanes Classic this past weekend. The race I was second in last season, by not a whole lot, so my goal this time was to be second again and under 2 minutes to World Cup racer and BMX Olympian Jill Kintner, who obviously was going to win unless her bike had serious mechanical failures. Oh, and I wanted a CLEAN RUN for once! Only out of three goals were met this time: in an effort to "conserve" energy, I took it way too easy on the flat, winding Flameout trail section. What the heck! That didn't do me any good. Then after greasing through the main rock waterfall and gnar section on Sticks & Stones, I make it to just above the last rock garden on the lower trail and spectacularly wad up in a dusty rut. Seriously, I have no idea what even happened, just wound up filled with dust in every orifice and shaking my head. I shook out as much dust as possible and continued on, dirt trickling out of my helmet and goggles the rest of the way to the finish. I wound up in third, just a few seconds off of second place, and barely under 2 minutes from Jill. If I had either pedaled harder (oh the irony) or not crashed it would have been a sure second place--if I had done both pedal and not crash I maybe would have been well under 2 minutes back. Oh well, that's what I get for trying to be smart and strategize--better to just pedal till my legs fall off! My friend Shanna who beat me rode hard the whole way and had spaghetti legs at the end, she definitely earned her giant check! I got one too, just a little bit smaller, but it will still help me fix my bike and get it running better for next year.
Also a shout-out to Kali for replacing the busted visor on my helmet, probably good that I waited till after the race to do that or else I would have needed 2 of them! And my POC body armor has performed spectacularly this season, keeping me un-injured through the many times I've sampled dirt. Last but not least, Loeka Clothing for keeping me well-dressed in some snazzy gear--unfortunately I've put holes in just about everything this year with my many crashes!
I'll wait till next time to ponder how I felt about this season as a whole; my patience for sitting here is wearing thin and I need to get outside for a bit before going to the dentist this afternoon...
The Tahoe Fat Tire Festival at Squaw Valley the following weekend brought even more fun and excitement; I had just replaced my brake rotors that were bent and rubbing with brand new ones, which just happened to rub even worse, like riding with your brakes on. Crap! I'm not exactly a mechanical genius, in fact I'm kind of scared to mess with my bike too much because I seem to always make it worse, so I just decided to ride Kit's bike for the race instead. The course was a whopping 3 miles long with a good amount of pedaling, and the only techy rock section was at the top and not really that bad at all. That made it easy to decide on a 30 lb 7-inch travel bike without perma-brakes over my V-10. I took one practice run before the race and decided it was good enough, never mind the suspension was set up for Kit (and being air I could have easily changed it). But I didn't. Probably would have helped a bit...Midway through the rocks I put my front wheel in the wrong place and went OTB, not a hard crash but a slow topple that cost some time. I hopped back on and got going, and things were smooth until farther down in the woods I snagged a pedal on something and found myself in the dirt again. Got a little mad and pedaled harder, but not quite enough to catch Tasa, who finished about 8 seconds ahead of me. Despite my inability to stay on the bike during the race, it was a good event overall. The festival atmosphere always makes bike racing more fun, and being able to race on a new trail in the spectacular setting of Squaw's mountainous terrain is pretty neat. Hopefully the event makes a return next year, with a real DH course, and maybe a dual slalom or something!
Finally there was the Tara Llanes Classic this past weekend. The race I was second in last season, by not a whole lot, so my goal this time was to be second again and under 2 minutes to World Cup racer and BMX Olympian Jill Kintner, who obviously was going to win unless her bike had serious mechanical failures. Oh, and I wanted a CLEAN RUN for once! Only out of three goals were met this time: in an effort to "conserve" energy, I took it way too easy on the flat, winding Flameout trail section. What the heck! That didn't do me any good. Then after greasing through the main rock waterfall and gnar section on Sticks & Stones, I make it to just above the last rock garden on the lower trail and spectacularly wad up in a dusty rut. Seriously, I have no idea what even happened, just wound up filled with dust in every orifice and shaking my head. I shook out as much dust as possible and continued on, dirt trickling out of my helmet and goggles the rest of the way to the finish. I wound up in third, just a few seconds off of second place, and barely under 2 minutes from Jill. If I had either pedaled harder (oh the irony) or not crashed it would have been a sure second place--if I had done both pedal and not crash I maybe would have been well under 2 minutes back. Oh well, that's what I get for trying to be smart and strategize--better to just pedal till my legs fall off! My friend Shanna who beat me rode hard the whole way and had spaghetti legs at the end, she definitely earned her giant check! I got one too, just a little bit smaller, but it will still help me fix my bike and get it running better for next year.
Also a shout-out to Kali for replacing the busted visor on my helmet, probably good that I waited till after the race to do that or else I would have needed 2 of them! And my POC body armor has performed spectacularly this season, keeping me un-injured through the many times I've sampled dirt. Last but not least, Loeka Clothing for keeping me well-dressed in some snazzy gear--unfortunately I've put holes in just about everything this year with my many crashes!
I'll wait till next time to ponder how I felt about this season as a whole; my patience for sitting here is wearing thin and I need to get outside for a bit before going to the dentist this afternoon...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)